F&O open interest swells to over Rs 9,500 crore

NEW DELHI: Dalal St is starting the November series at an all-time high outstanding futures position of Rs 7,900 crore on the NSE's derivatives.

After expiry last month, the new contract opened with a futures open interest of Rs 5,700 crore. The total F&O open interest has now swelled to over Rs 9,500 crore.

The huge build-up has come primarily from retail investors, who have returned to the derivatives segment in a big way after a gap of a few months. They had deserted the F&O segment after the huge slump in the cash market in May.

Though some investors had become active last month, retail participation has now returned to the levels seen during the peak of the bull run in January-March.

Such an emphatic carry forward of September positions indicates that market players are turning bullish on stock prices. Normally, traders square off current positions on expiry and take a fresh view on the market around middle month.

Thus, outstanding positions dip to the lowest level at each expiry and peak around mid-month. F&O contracts for the September series had expired on Thursday and new contracts for January are now available for trading.

Though a part of the build-up is on the sell side, majority of the positions are long (buy) futures positions, said brokers.